You Belong With Me
by jackiesmittens
Summary: High school senior Castiel has a crush on his best friend. Caught between wanting Dean Winchester and being afraid of ruining his perfect friendship with him, what would Castiel do?
1. Chapter 1

**You Belong With Me**

**This story is loosely based on the lyrics of You Belong To Me - Taylor Swift. **

**This is my first fanfic I've ever written and also my first Destiel fic. =D **

**Critic however you can cos I definitely think I can improve and I want to! ^.^**

**And thanks for reading! Have a nice day!**

* * *

><p>So, Dean Winchester wasn't just any regular guy Castiel had a crush on.<p>

They'd been friends, close friends in fact, since high school started. On the first day, Castiel remembered being nervous more than ever as he climbed into his father's car with his older brother, Gabriel, hoping that the car would somehow break down somewhere and make him late for school or miss the day. He never liked going to new places. It always made him uncomfortable, what with the new environment and new people. Also, being out there and in crowds was never Castiel's thing.

Consumed by his own worry, Castiel had sat through the whole journey in silence while listening to the morning news on radio and Gabriel munching on his chocolate bar and making the most obnoxious noise anyone could ever make.

Arriving at the front gate of Edlund High, Castiel recalled twisting and pulling at his fingers nervously, even as his father's car pulled up to a stop. Gabriel got out of the car and had apparently walked over to Castiel's side, opening his door for him. "Come on, little brother," Cas didn't look up, "You don't wanna be late, do you?"

Gabriel walked him through the entrance which was crowded with teenagers moving about in their own business, chatting and socializing with their group of friends. Walking through the packed hallway, Gabriel looked over at his little brother walking silently as his side and grimaced.

"Cas, cheer up," Gabriel swung his arm over his shoulder and tugged him closer, "Look, high school ain't that bad. You'll meet someone pretty soon... And with your utter cuteness, I'm gonna say it's probably gonna be a _girl_."

"Gaaab," Castiel whined and sent an elbow towards his brother's gut.

"Ow," Gab exclaimed and ruffled the shorter boy's hair.

Science was fun. Castiel had loosened up a bit and was talking to his lab partner, Anna. Somehow, Anna seemed to have the ability to calm Castiel down, despite the fact that his brain was on the verge of shutting down due to his self-destructive anxiety.

"So, how many brothers and sisters do you have?" Anna whispered her question.

"Two," Castiel whispered back, "There's Gabriel and there's Rachel. Rachel's the smart one. She just got a job working for my dad's company, Novak Technologies."

"What about Gabriel?"

"Gabriel's a senior in this school," Cas shrugged as he sank into his seat and said with an embarrassed voice, "All he cares about is candy and topless girls."

The classroom door swung open, interrupting their conversation and Castiel looked up to find a tall boy with a very cool looking dark green leather jacket on and a really nice pair of Canvas shoes.

"Oh, great," Anna smiled, "He's here."

"Who's he?"

"Dean Winchester," Anna couldn't take her eyes off of him. Not that anyone could blame her. Dean Winchester was kinda good looking. Then, she continued, "My sister went to his brother, Sam's birthday party and Mom told me to tag along to look after her which was something I didn't like at first but I guess it turned out okay when I met him."

"Young man, why are you late?" Mr. Walker had turned to Dean with a frown on his face.

"Sorry, traffic was bitch."

Although the students were amused with Dean's vulgarity, Mr. Walker was gaping at the kid like a fish. Castiel was handling mixed emotions of amusement and shock about the fact that Dean said it with so much ease and not a care in the world... or the teacher in front of him.

"And what is your name?" Castiel failed to suppress his laughter along with some other students when Mr. Walker's voice went a little high pitched.

"Mr. Winchester."

"Detention after school, Mr. Winchester," Mr. Walker eyed dangerously at the now smirking boy, "Not a good record to set on the first day of school."

"Yeah, whatever," Dean waved a hand like it was nothing. "Oh, and you can call me Dean."

Castiel noticed Dean Winchester spotted Anna, smiled and walked over towards their table. As he took his seat beside the girl, Dean turned to look at him with a broad grin.

"Hi," Dean nodded, "I'm Dean."

Castiel wanted to reply, but he was just so in awe and couldn't find his voice to do so.

"Uh, this would be the part where you tell me your name?"

Dean had green eyes. Dean had a brilliant smile. Dean had...

"Um..." Castiel was still so mesmerized with Dean's features.

"Alright," Dean reached his hand across Anna's textbook and held it up at Cas, "Nice meeting you, Um." But all Castiel could do was stare at his hand like some foreign object worth worshipping.

Seriously, Dean was like the perfect human being that Cas could ever wish to be. Dean's smug attitude was definitely impressive to him and Castiel looked up to him. Dean looked like he could do anything. Of course, when Dean talked to him for the first time, he couldn't believe he could, for once, hang out with the cool kid.

It wasn't until the bell rang and Castiel grabbed his books, darting out of the classrom and stopped beside the entrance. One by one, students left the classroom and he waited patiently with his books tugged close to his chest. It was nerve wrecking but he had to do it. He knew he just had to.

Waving Anna goodbye was when Dean showed up at the entrance. He didn't notice Cas standing there and walked the other way.

Castiel darted towards him and tapped him on the shoulder a couple of times before Dean spun around. He was standing close to him and Cas figured he was only an inch shorter.

"Castiel." It was as though he had used all his strength to deliver one simply reply because he was sure as hell panting.

"Huh?"

"Castiel," he said again, "My name is Castiel."

A change of expression from confusion to realization struck Dean and he cracked a smile, "Oooh. So, your name is Castiel. ... Where exactly are you from?"

"Boston."

"Well, I kinda have to say, you Boston people have weird names."

Dean lowered his head when he noticed Castiel's shy smile.

"And you do smile," Cas looked up, "Back there, I thought you were some kind of a Goth kid or something."

Of course that was then and now Castiel was Dean's best friend in high school. All the time when Castiel was being teased for being a nerd or awkward, Dean would back him up and sometimes, he would get into some obviously avoidable fights.

Both Dean and Cas were seniors now and could literally rule the entire school, or so that was what Dean thought. Events which involved both of them getting into trouble in school and outside occurred too frequently and everyone in school knew they were mischievous, like that time Dean accidently set Mr. Walker's tie on fire.

_"Shh," Dean hissed as he directed the Bunsen burner at the tip of Mr. Walker's tie._

_"Dean, no," Cas pulled hard on Dean's hoodie, suffocating him._

_Dean slapped his hand away as he looked up at Mr. Walker who was busy explaining to the class about the heating of magnesium and failed to notice Dean creeping up from the edge of the table beside a student standing on his right. Mr. Walker did not notice Dean's head popping from the edge of the crowded table with a lit Bunsen burner approaching his velvet tie._

_"Dean," Cas whimpered as the Bunsen burner got too close. The tip of the fire was already so close to touching the edge of the tie._

_"Calm down, I just wanna scare him."_

_As Dean turned back from Cas to the tie, it suddenly caught fire and Dean's eyes widened in shock. Oh, crap..._

_"Mr. Walker! Your tie's on fire!"_

_Mr. Walker managed to spot Dean pushing his best friend out through the exit along with Dean's distant "Go! Go! Go!"_

Also, that time when...

_"Dean? Why'd you ask me to come? Where are y- DEAN! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE SWIMMING POOL?"_

Or when...

_"AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP! RATS IN THE KITCHEN, RAAATS IN THE KITCHEEEEN!"_

Yeah, days with Dean were never dull. They were fun, interesting... even that one time when it was damn close to getting them expelled. Well, that's what you get when you try to drive someone's car into the football field... especially if it was Mr. Walker's car.

However, the day Castiel realized he was crushing on Dean happened just a few months ago when they were swimming at the pool at his home. Everything was okay and just plain normal. Both the boys got into a wrestling match in the swimming pool and their bodies pressed against each other as one tried to drown the other. At one point when they've finally stopped, Castiel was staring at Dean's face, only a few inches apart with their limbs entangled with one another. Water was dripping from Dean's hair. His lips were red because of the punch Castiel landed on him. Dean's very green eyes were wide with pure excitement. A strange urge made Castiel closed the distance between them slightly, wanting to taste those red swollen lips, when suddenly Dean spat water onto his face and laughed as he continued wrestling Castiel into the water.

It wasn't anything Castiel expected – to feel the way that he felt towards his best friend during their time in the pool. After being bothered by it for days, Castiel finally let it go and consider it as nothing before something else happened. He started check out Dean the way he never did before. Just those eyes, mouth, neck, legs and…

The fact that Dean was dating Anna didn't do much good either. Castiel often found himself jealous of the way Anna was getting close with Dean. Sure, Anna was his best girl friend and Dean was his best friend, but still… The way Anna could twirl her fingers around Dean's hair, tugging it when they kissed had upset him and he would just run off to someplace else to avoid seeing anything else that was eating out his heart. Why should _he_ be upset? He should be happy for Dean and Anna. They were great together… But Castiel couldn't help feeling hurt. Dean, being the best friend in the world, noticed Castiel's changed behaviour and had a few times confronted him.

"I'm fine," Castiel had said, "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Don't gimme that crap, Cas."

It sort of made him feel better to know Dean still cared deeply for him. Dean still cared deeply for him as a friend, a brother. No matter what, Castiel promised himself he will not ruin this friendship.

Despite his desperate attempt to keep himself from wanting Dean in all the wrong ways, Castiel still wanted to be close to him.

Whenever he felt like touching Dean's thigh, he would playfully shove it away.

Whenever he felt like curling his fingers into Dean's hair, he would ruffle it in a way Dean would do to him.

And whenever Castiel felt like he wanted to kiss Dean on the lips, he would land Dean a gentle punch on the cheek.

All this just to keep himself from ruining his friendship with Dean, and it was killing him on the inside.

* * *

><p>"Come on, babe. Don't be like that."<p>

Dean was talking on his phone with a very upset Anna. Castiel pretended not to eavesdrop on the conversation by grabbing a book from the shelf and reading the few first pages.

"Yeah, well, you know I didn't actually mean it, right?"

Pause.

"Anna, I was just playing. Com- Anna? ... Anna? Damn it."

"Ooooh… let me see," Castiel closed his eyes and raised his hands like he was meditating. "Things didn't go off well like you thought it would be. She hung up."

"Shut up," Dean whined, grabbing the book from Castiel's hand while Castiel laughed.

"I told you not to offend her."

"It wasn't meant to offend her!"

They were in a bookstore in town because Cas had wanted to buy some comics but they had unknowingly ended up in the Romance section.

"Yeah, sure, stating that her driving skills were as awesome as a llama trying to ride a bike was not offensive towards her."

"I don't find that offensive!"

"It is, Dean!" Castiel slapped him on the back, "She's probably fed up enough with her driving and you had to rub it in."

Dean pouted his lips and placed the book back in the shelf.

Castiel cracked a smile. "I personally think it was kind of funny though."

"Ha!"

"I said kind of."

"It doesn't matter!"

* * *

><p>It was Tuesday night and as usual, Castiel would crash over at Dean's place. It's a thing they've been doing since they were younger and it became a tradition, apparently.<p>

Castiel was having dinner with the Winchesters like he was part of the family, which was kinda cool. He remembered the first time he came over, John and Mary accepted his presence right away and didn't once make him feel awkward about anything. And Sam, Sam was always the little brother who'll mess around and tell Castiel all of Dean's secrets, including the websites Dean surfs in his laptop. How Sam found out about those websites? Castiel had no idea...

"So, how was your day, boys?" Mary asked casually when she placed a piece of sliced turkey on Sam's plate.

"Mooom," he whined, "I can do it myself."

"Okay, honey," Mary nodded with fake seriousness and Sam pouted his lips.

"Day's been great," Dean answered with his head held high.

"Which means you've done something again, haven't you?" John pointed his fork at him with raised eyebrows.

"No," Dean frowned.

"He's just snipped off a couple of flowers from the science garden and glued them on Mr. Walker's headlights," Cas answered like it was a normal thing Dean would do and Mary shook her head slowly.

Dean scowled at his best friend who just smiled back.

"What's with you and this Mr. Walker anyway?" Sam eyed his brother with his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Shut up and eat your dinner, Sammy."

"Language," Mary exclaimed.

Dean looked down at his plate while he stuffed in a few more slices of turkey before looking up and found Sam sticking his tongue out at him.

After dinner, Dean gripped Castiel's wrist tightly and dashed towards his bedroom. "Quick!" he said when he noticed Castiel's tilted head. Then, Sam came running from the kitchen, chasing after them. "Wait! I wanna come too!"

Dean finally reached his bedroom and quickly swung the door shut, locking it.

"Dean! Let me in! I wanna come in too!"

"Guy stuff, Sammy, go to your room!"

After a few more 'knocks' on the door, there was only silence outside. Sam had seemingly given up on breaking the door down and went to play his Play-station. Dean turned around to find Castiel sitting cross-legged on his bed across the room with a magazine in his hands.

"My, Cas, I never knew you were into chick stuff," Dean smirked as he turned on the television.

"Same goes for you, since I found this on your bed."

"I bought it for Mom," Dean sat beside his friend and browsed through channels to find something to watch as he added, "She's been trying to find something nice for Aunt Ellen, guessed a magazine could help her out."

"Remind me again why you want to install a TV in your bedroom? Is it really necessary?"

"Same reason why your brother installed one in his bedroom, Cas," Dean continued browsing, "So the little brother can't conquer the television by wanting to watch something else. At. The same. Time."

Cas rolled the magazine together and whacked him on the back of the head. Dean had brought Castiel with him the day he decided he wanted to get a TV for his bedroom. Using John's credit card, Dean wanted to get himself a plasma television and got himself one. Guess being the son of a very successful businessman has its perks.

"Dude, there's nothing to watch!"

"Well, why don't you try browsing channels other than just sports and cars?"

"Classic movies are on Friday nights, Tuesday nights are all chick flicks."

"Well, since there are no other choices, watch chick flicks then."

"You watch them, I'm watching guy shows."

"Fine, turn to the chick flick channel…"

"Dude, no."

"Dude, yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Hell no!"

"Dean?"

"I said no!"

Castiel let out a sigh. "Dean?"

"What?"

"Give me the remote."

"No!" Dean bit his lip and continued browsing through the same channels over and over again.

"Dean, the buttons are gonna flip out from the thing if you keep pressing it so hard."

"I'm not giving you the remote, Cas."

Cas reached out to snatch it but Dean had pulled it away. Again, Cas tried and Dean did the same thing.

"Cas, stop it!"

"Choose, chick flicks or killing your remote?"

"Shut up."

This time, Cas shot his hand out for the remote with full force and grabbed hold of it, yanking it out of Dean's grip. Dean looked up at him and saw Castiel's broad grin as he waved the remote beside his face.

As Dean tried snatching it, Cas dodged his hand and turned around to try and leap off the bed. Grabbing onto the back of his pajamas, Dean pulled, causing a 'whoa' when Cas fell backwards.

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

Crashing onto Dean was unpleasant. Not only his shoulder hurt like hell when it collided with Dean's face, the back of his thigh had crashed onto Dean's knee which also hurt like hell.

"Dude, you're as fat as Santa," Dean said as he struggled to breath.

"Which channel is the chick flick thingy?"

"You didn't know?" Dean's strangled voice rang in Castiel's ear, "No way I'm telling you."

"Dean, if you don't tell me, I'm not getting up."

"Shut up. I'm not telling you anything."

"Dean, you're suffocating," Castiel kept staring at the buttons on the remote control, "Which channel is it?"

"Get up, Fatboy."

"You know what? This is actually very comfy," Castiel laid his head back on Dean's shoulder, "I think I'm just gonna stay put."

"Dude, get the fuck up."

"What's the channel?"

"You're killing me!"

"You just don't give up, do you?"

"I'm a Winchester, you ass."

In the end, Dean's stubbornness paid off and Castiel decided to give up. There was no way in hell that could possibly persuade Dean Winchester to do something he didn't want to. As Castiel got up, he dropped the remote beside Dean's head, muttering to himself, "Stubborn bastard."

So, they ended up switching off the TV and proceeded to reading random comic books from Dean's table to pass time. Castiel read through the first page of The Amazing Spiderman and felt his eyelids weighing heavily on his eyes. As he tossed the book to where it belonged, Cherry Pie blasted off from the speakers of Dean's sound system and Castiel turned around.

"Oh, God! Finally! I am so done with Justin Bieber!" Dean ranted, "Until tomorrow, then Bieber's gonna be singing out loud into my ears again… I don't know why Anna likes this guy. What's so attractive about him? Obviously he doesn't have my good looks. And I can sing too! Just… Ugh…"

"Try turning it up louder," Castiel watched when Dean started air-guitaring, "I don't think the next town can hear you."

"Come on, it's not that loud."

"Yes, it is! I can't even hear myself talk!"

"What was that?"

"DEAN WINCHESTER SHUT THE DAMN THING OR YOU'RE GROUNDED!"

Hearing John's voice, Dean quickly lowered the volume and kept his mouth shut until he heard John's footsteps leading away from the room.

* * *

><p>The speakers were now playing ACDC and Dean and Castiel were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the floor with their backs against the bed reading books from Dean's little bookshelf containing nothing more than Mary's books and little Sammy's.

"Dude, I can't read this anymore," Dean scowled and dropped the Encyclopedia of Weirdness to his side.

"Mmhmm."

"What are you reading?"

"Mmhmm."

"Dude, I don't think 'Mmhmm' is a book."

"Dean, shush."

"Don't shush me."

"Hey!"

Dean had snatched the book from his hands and was now staring at the cover like moss had grown all over it.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"What?"

"First, you tried to sleep on me to death because of a chick flick channel," Dean looked up, "Now this?"

He held the book at Castiel's face.

"Dear John is kind of a nice book."

"You're hopelessly turning into a chick."

"You, on the other hand, have always been a dick."

Again, Castiel let out a sigh and reached his hands out. "Gimme that."

"Take it yourself."

Castiel looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. Dean was challenging him, like a kid would. He was not going to give him any satisfaction.

"I'm not going to give you any satisfaction," Cas stood up and winked, "Shall we go to bed?"

"How does that not make you sound gay?"

"'Cos I'm your buddy," Cas said as he climbed into bed and brought the covers up to his shoulders. Buddy? Castiel let out a heavy sigh. He wanted more, damn it.

Dean stood up and crawled into bed beside him, getting under the covers. "Sleep on my side of the bed like last Tuesday and I'll kick your ass tomorrow morning."

"Kick my ass," Castiel scoffed, "That's what you said last Wednesday morning."

"Shut up."

Cas rolled over to his side, facing his back at Dean while his mind was consumed by the complexity of his feelings towards the boy sleeping next to him.

Maybe… Just maybe, he'll tell Dean how he felt about him…

Yeah, one day perhaps…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Anna was perfect. Everything about her screams it. She's beautiful, smart, charismatic, down-to-earth and she had style. Anything looked good on Anna. And the way she could make people laugh… Just everything… and Dean damn well deserved her.

"What do you think about this?" Anna had a bright smile on her face while she held a vintage lamp in front of Dean's face. The two of them were standing so close, their shoulders sliding over each other's.

"This looks like an _old lady's_ lamp," Dean whined, deserving a slap on the arm from his girlfriend. That was when Anna noticed their other friend and lowered her head while worry filled her eyes.

"Cas?"

Castiel realised he was looking down at his shoes for a while now and shot his head up, eyes wide. "Hmm?"

"Are you okay?" Dean eyed him with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Castiel panicked when he couldn't pull a fake smile, "Um… I'll g-go… Uh… I'll leave you two while I go… Sur-survey the shop."

"Survey the _shop_?" Dean's raised eyebrow made Castiel more nervous than he was before.

"Yeah," Cas stuttered while he turned and walked away, "Grandma Ralphy's coming over soon."

"Okay…" Dean watched as his best friend disappeared into one of the many shelves and turned to Anna who was doing the same.

"Have you noticed he's acting differently?" Dean pulled back a little and tilted his head to look at Anna better.

"Oh, I noticed."

As he took a step towards the direction Castiel had gone, Anna held him back with a tug on his jacket.

"Don't you even think about going there," Anna hissed.

"I need to know what's going on."

"You'll know when he wants to tell you," Anna pulled at his jacket again and this time Dean looked at her, "Remember all those times when you confronted him? It stressed him out and you know how he's like when he's stressed."

Dean sighed. He remembered.

She continued, "He wouldn't talk to anyone, he wouldn't look at anyone. Hell, he wouldn't even talk to you!"

"I know, I know," he nodded to himself, "But somehow… I don't know…"

"Somehow, I don't know what?"

"Sometimes, I just feel so distant from him… I know there's something he's not telling me and it's obviously killing him on the inside. I mean, look at him. The dude's not that good on feelings-"

"So are you," Anna interrupted softly.

"Yeah, Anna, I know."

Anna smiled as she leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek, hoping that it would make him feel better and Dean let out a deep frustrated sigh.

"I just feel like I'm losing him, you know?"

Of course Anna knew how Dean felt. More often than not, Dean would mention about Castiel's recent changes in behaviour and it was always worrying for Dean, even Anna. It just doesn't seem right when Cas would suddenly walk off whenever Anna was spending time with her boyfriend. Sometimes, Cas was acting as though he didn't like it when Anna was with Dean and it kinda hurt her feelings.

"Hey, of course I know," Anna gently traced her fingertips along his jaw line, "The three of us have been best friends for a long time, Dean. I know… I do too."

* * *

><p>"What are we doing here, Dean?"<p>

"What are we doing here," Dean mocked his best friend by mimicking him, "Cas, we're gonna watch Anna practise her cheerleading thing while we're waiting for her."

Dean patted on the seat beside him, encouraging Castiel to sit down. With a sigh, he sat, kicking Dean's shoe on purpose.

"You do that a lot lately."

Castiel tilted his head. "Do what a lot?"

Dean mimicked Castiel's sigh and raised an eyebrow at him. He noticed Castiel looked away, shifting himself uncomfortably beside Dean and he patted a hand on Castiel's shoulder.

"Why aren't we waiting in the library?" Castiel decided to change the topic, "Anna's meeting us in the library anyway."

"Dude, think of this as a study break," Dean retrieved his hand and looked over at Anna, "Besides, Anna's kinda cute in that cheerleader suit."

"Duuude," Castiel whined, arching himself away from him.

"What? You don't think so?"

"She's like a sister to me. Enough already."

"Come to think of it," Dean snapped his fingers, "I think I'm gonna get her a skirt."

"You do know that she has a closet specially built in just for her short skirts."

"Uh huh," Dean nodded like a child, "So?"

Dean's childish behaviour wasn't new for him. Fact is if Dean wasn't acting that way, there would definitely be something wrong with the guy.

"Anyway, we're not going to the library later," Dean pointed out, his eyes still on Anna down at the field.

"Then where are we going?"

"You'll see."

When Anna's practise was done, she turned to the two boys on the bleachers and waved before dashing towards the school. Dean gave a push at Castiel's shoulder but when he didn't move, Dean shoved him hard and pulled him to his feet. "Go! Go! Go!"

In Dean's car, they waited for Anna to show up. There wasn't much to do for Cas, except loving every minute of being alone with Dean in his car. It had been a while since things changed when Dean hooked up with Anna, well, excluding Tuesday nights, of course.

"It's proven," Dean suddenly throws his hands up high, "It's official. Girls take forever to get out of the shower."

"You take more than half an hour, Dean."

"Bubble baths are different, Cas."

Cas turned to Dean on the driver's side with a curious look. "You're still taking bubble baths?"

"Shut up," Dean waved a hand at him, "If you're riding shotgun, you do not question about my bath time."

"Dean, I'm your best friend and I can definitely question about your bath time," Cas smirked and closed in his distance with Dean a little, "So tell me, are you still playing with your rubber ducky?"

"Cas," Dean warned as he turned to look at him.

"Squeak." That smug face of Cas made Dean narrow his eyes.

"Shut up or I'll 'squeak' you." Dean stared at him with a bored face. With their faces only a few inches apart, Castiel could feel his best friend's heavy breathing. Knowing that Dean was intimidated, it somewhat provided Castiel satisfaction.

"Squeakety squeakety squeak squeak SQUACK!" Cas yelled as Dean swung his arm around his neck, pinning him down and ruffled his hair with all his might. Dean let out a victorious laugh as he continued to torture his best friend while Cas called for help, hands flinging aimlessly as fingers try to find their way into Dean's nostrils.

The back door opened and Castiel expected Dean to let him go, but he didn't.

"Hey, Anna," Dean greeted, his head cocked to the side avoiding Castiel's intruding fingers while he continued messing up his hair.

"Anna, help!" Castiel's muffled voice could be heard, "Help me!"

"Dean, you better drive," Anna giggled, "We're gonna be late."

With that, Dean finally let go and shoved Castiel to his seat, turning to the steering wheel before Castiel launched himself on him with his arm stretched out and did the same thing Dean did to him.

"Oh-ho, reveeeenge!" Dean struggled and jabbed a finger at Castiel's ribs, causing Cas to jerk back but still not letting go.

"Boys, seriously, we're gonna be late."

They responded with grunts and laughter.

"Guys, you can continue being morons later, but now we have to move!"

Castiel didn't know they were going to catch a movie and the weirdest thing was they were doing everything Castiel liked: hanging out at bookstores, computer stores and just everything that he liked. "Books, computers and what's next? I don't care. We're going to a music store after this. I need more tracks," Dean had complained when Castiel wanted to enter another computer store.

During the movie, Dean and Anna made him sit in between, telling him that they wanted him to. It was pretty weird at first… separating the couple but Castiel felt relieved he was sitting beside Dean because he never liked watching horror movies – no, Paranormal Activity 3 wasn't a horror movie, it's just something that was made to scare the living crap of out of the audiences - but having Dean sort of made him feel safer… And Cas wanted it more than ever while bracing himself and trying to survive the movie.

Walking out of the cinema, Dean was laughing hard while he and Anna were both grabbing onto Castiel's wrists, guiding him outside. Castiel's shoulders were tensed, his eyes were wide opened – wide enough for them to fall out of their sockets – and his mouth was shut tight, a thin line which was his lips could only be seen if someone would look closely enough and he absolutely hated when Dean laughed at him because of that.

"Are you seeing his face?" Dean shrieked with laughter, "Throughout the _whole_ movie he had his eyes closed!"

"Did not."

"Aw, Cas," Anna giggled and nudged the side of his head with hers. Castiel's stunned expression didn't budge.

"Yes, you did! You're so scared you could've pissed yourself."

"Shut up, Dean."

"Oh," Dean made a face, "Guess someone's not sleeping tonight."

Castiel shoved his wrists away and walked off, leaving Dean laughing even harder. "Oh, now he's mad."

At home, Castiel dragged his feet lazily up to his bedroom and plunged onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. It'd been an awesome day… long, but awesome. It felt as if he was hanging out with Dean and Anna like old times… before everything changed… before they started dating… before his new feelings towards Dean… It felt kinda nice, like he was relieving one of his memories spending time with the two of them. Then he thought about the way Dean was okay with Castiel hiding his face with his shoulder during the movie. That felt nice too. He did it with Anna as well but it didn't feel the same way – it was comfortable, but not as good.

His phone rang and he picked up.

"How's my boy doing?" Dean's cheerful voice rang in his ears and Cas cringed away from the phone.

"Dean, you're paying for my blasted eardrum."

"It's kinda late, how about I talk you to sleep?"

"God, you're seriously gonna bore me to death?"

"Shut up, I'm interesting and I can bet you a dollar that you'll find my voice so soothing, you're gonna forget all about the movie," Dean whined when Castiel gave a scoff, "Hey, not even Anna was offered to fall asleep to the sound of my beautiful voice so you should consider yourself lucky."

Castiel let out a laugh. Then he asked, "Speaking of the movie, what's the deal with today?"

"Huh?"

"You know, sitting between the two of you lovebirds during the movie? Where did that come from?"

"Okay," Dean's voice immediately lowered into a whisper, "Don't tell Anna I told you this or there will be consequences. Like really _bad_ consequences."

Castiel waited until Dean let out a sigh.

"It was a bonding thing," Dean began, "She told me she found an article from a magazine and it was something about recreating friendship bonds when your best friend starts dating somebody else or something, I don't know. Anyway, she wanted to try it out and thought it might work and it _did_ so I guess she wasn't as wrong as I thought her to be. Also, I didn't actually agree to it at first, but she dragged me into this and I personally think she's also trying to get to my non-existing feminine side. Also, the other day she asked me to accompany her to shop for her clothes and, man, it was horrible. I mean, waiting for her to pick some clothes is one thing but to-"

"What do you mean it worked?"

"What, that's all you heard? I'm telling you Anna's trying to turn me into a chick here and that's all you heard?"

"Just tell me, Dean."

There was a long pause.

"You seem happy today," Castiel could hear Dean's relief and frowned, "And that's the point of this whole plan."

"Why would I not be happy?"

"Well, Anna thinks you've been acting different lately and uh… I do too. I mean, come on, Cas. It's so damn obvious."

Hearing no response from Cas, Dean decided to continue. He was starting to doubt this closure thing Anna told him to do was even working.

"Is… I mean, is it because now that I'm dating Anna, I'm spending less time with you and you don't like it? God, I know it's a stupid question and I feel like a girl saying all this but Anna suspects so and no offense, but I kinda do as well. Or is it something that I did before? Okay, I know mixing strawberries into your coffee didn't really make your morning the other day and that time when I dropped your Ipod into the pool. It was an accident, I swear! But I mean is it something that I did?"

There was only silence and Dean could sense something had to be wron. _God, Anna, I can't believe you talked me into this… I'm gonna lose my best friend. _Dean felt like hitting his head with the phone right now.

"Cas, come on, man. Talk to me."

"I'm tired, Dean."

"No, Cas, don't-"

"I'm really tired. Goodnight."

Castiel _sounded _tired but Dean couldn't shake the feeling whether Cas _was_ actually tired… or was more of being tired of _him_. There was just something different about the guy and it frustrated Dean that he didn't know what. His shoulders slumped down as he dropped his phone to his side.

_Well, since the chick thing didn't work, _Dean thought, _I'm gonna stick to the dude thing. _Which was forget about it and move on...


End file.
